Conventional heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) disk drives typically include a laser coupled to a HAMR transducer. The HAMR transducer generally includes a conventional waveguide for directing light from the laser to a near field transducer (NFT) near the air-bearing surface (ABS). The NFT utilizes local resonances in surface plasmons to focus the light on a region of the magnetic recording media. As the media is heated, a pole applies a magnetic field to the region of the media and data are written to the media. The conventional HAMR disk drive may also include a photodiode that is used to monitor the laser power. For example, the conventional waveguide may be configured to provide light first to the NFT, then to a photodiode mounted on the slider. In other conventional systems, the photodiode may be directly coupled with the laser.
Although the conventional HAMR transducer may function, the trend in magnetic recording is to higher densities and smaller components. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved HAMR transducer that may be used at higher densities.